October 6-14, 2011

October Events

October 5, 2011. ANTOINETTE LE NORMAND-ROMAIN speaks about RODIN AND HIS AMERICAN ADMIRERS. The directeur général de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art, Paris, and former curator at the Musée Rodin, Paris, discusses the American art critics, collectors, and museum exhibitions that brought Rodin’s work to the United States. Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. http://www.museum.stanford.edu for details.

October 6, 2011. OPENING: SWISS GAME DESIGN. Celebrate the opening of the Swiss Game Design exhibition with game developers and designers from Canada, the US, and Switzerland, and learn about the impact of computer games on culture, society, business, and the arts. 6:30pm. swissnex San Francisco, 730 Montgomery St., SF.

BUUD YAM, Burkina Faso , 1997, 97 mins. Directed by Gaston Kaboré. Gaston Kaboré's exquisite tale of a young man's search for a healer for his foster sister, stricken with an unknown illness, is a classic hero's journey that combines a profound instinct for traditional fable with a masterful sense of cinema. This rare screening is not to be missed!

TRIBUTE TO GASTON KABORE, following WEND KUUNI… Burkina Faso , 1985, 70 mins. Directed by Gaston Kaboré.A mute boy in pre-colonial West Africa is found in the bush and adopted by Mossi villagers whose love and kindness help restore his voice in this rarely screened classic that established Gaston Kaboré as a major voice in African cinema.

CHILL ON THE HILL.Canada , 2011, 141 mins.Directed by Richard Roy. In the summer of 1969 in rural Quebec, a family tragedy fuels 12-year-old Frisson's determination to get to Woodstock to see his guitar idol, Jimi Hendrix, in this charming coming-of-age story that captures the heart and soul of the Summer of Love.

THE ARTIST.France , 2011, 100 mins.Directed by Michel Hazanavicius. Cannes Best Actor Jean Dujardin is a silent-film star resisting the transition to sound in this French production co-starring Bérénice Bejo, set in 1927 Hollywood. Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius's sprightly and soulful backstage tale is a new silent classic for the ages.

THE CONQUEST.France , 2011, 110 mins.Directed by Xavier Durringer.Denis Podalydès delivers a witty yet commanding portrayal of Nicolas Sarkozy and his rise to the French presidency (along with the loss of his marriage) in director Xavier Durringer's political satire, spiced throughout with sharply etched characterizations of living politicians.

HOLIDAYS BY THE SEA.France , 2011, 77 mins.Directed by Pascal Rabaté.In an homage to the award-winning 1953 farce M. Hulot's Holiday, director Pascal Rabaté takes Jacques Tati's signature blend of seaside slapstick social commentary and updates it for a new generation to dizzyingly joyful effect.

SILENCE OF LOVE.France , 2011, 105 mins.Directed by Philippe Claudel. A virtuoso in the language of music, Italian professor Alessandro proves he is not so gifted in the ways of the heart in Philippe Claudel's romantic dramedy, a follow-up to his hit debut I've Loved You So Long.

DA MONZON, THE CONQUEST OF SAMANYANA.Mali , 2010, 110 mins.Directed by Sidy Fassara Diabaté. When young Da Monzon inherits his father's throne, his first priority is to conquer the gold-rich kingdom of Samanyana. But that means overcoming its formidable ruler, the mystic Bassi, in this compelling and gorgeously shot drama from West Africa.

THE MOSQUE. Morocco , 2010, 80 mins.Directed by Daoud Aoulad-Syad. When the set of his acclaimed Waiting for Pasolini is transformed into a real mosque, Daoud Aoulad-Syad returns to Morocco to make this absurdist tale that deftly juggles fact and fiction in a thoughtful cinematic love letter to Morocco.

PEGASUS.Morocco , 2010, 104 mins.Directed by Mohamed MouftakirWith striking visual poetry and gorgeous cinematography, this haunting journey into the mind and memories of a young woman skillfully walks the line between fantasy and reality. An unforgettable psychological road trip—and cinematic triumph—Pegasus won the top prize at Africa's FESPACO festival this year.

SARABAH. Senegal. In English, French, German, Wolof and Diola with English subtitles. In this stirring documentary, hip-hop artist Sister Fa fights to stop the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in her home country of Senegal. From her early days as an unpolished music phenom through a career-reinvention in Berlin, Sister Fa has continually smashed barriers in the male-dominated hip-hop world. But as this intimate film reveals, her strength of character was forged in a journey of hardship and transformation. Now, with the support of her husband and child, Sister Fa is ready to speak out about her own experience as a survivor of FGC. Sister Fa and her band travel to rural Senegal, where she launches a music-packed education campaign that culminates in an emotional visit to her home village.

GURU: BHAGWAN, HIS SECRETARY & HIS BODYGUARD.Switzerland , 2010, 95 mins.Directed by Sabine Gisiger and Beat Häner.This illuminating, multilayered exploration of guru Bhagwan Rajneesh's teachings and followers is also a fascinating portrait of the 1970s, when people the world over sought spiritual and sexual freedom and an answer to the age-old question, "Who am I?"

Opening October 7, 2011. THE WAY. Martin Sheen in the Pyrénées… See local listings for details.

October 7, 2011. OPENING RECEPTION FOR LATITUDES: SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS FROM FRANCE & NEW ZEALAND. Creative Growth hosts an exhibition of self-taught artwork from France and New Zealand, exploring the phenomenon of the untrained artist and the widely celebrated, international current of creativity within this field. On the West Coast for the first time–drawings by French self-taught artists including, Pierre Albasser, Jean Michel Chesne and Gerard Sendrey. Also having a West Coast debut, are the paintings and ceramic works from New Zealand-based artists, Andrew Blythe, Robert Rapson, Ray Ritchie and Martin Thompson, of the Massey University research project for Self Taught and Visionary Art, led by Professor Stuart Shepherd. Representing the arts and disability field in the Bay Area are works by Creative Growth artists David Albertsen, Juan Aguilera, Dinah Shapiro, and William Tyler, among many others. Creative Growth, 355 24th Street, Oakland. http://creativegrowth.org for details. 5pm-9pm.

October 7, 2011. BARAKA MOON plus MAKURU featuring OUSSEYNOU KOUYATE perform Sufi Trance Grooves / Tribal African at Ashkenaz. Makuru takes its name from the West African beat that gave birth to modern-day funk. It plays music from Senegal, Guinea, and Mali with driving funk dance rhythms. Led by charismatic singer and dancer Ouyssenou Kouyate, Makuru is guitarist Anastasi Mavrides, Mohammed Kouyate on balafon, drummer Peter Warren, and bassist Ben Isaacs; shows often include additional guest musicians and dancers. Direct audience participation is inevitable as the heavy dance beat merges everyone into one big family, dancing and singing together... it's like a night in an African village. Ousseynou Kouyate is world-renowned for the band he and his twin brother led, Djialy Kunda Kouyate (now Sekhou Senegal), as well as the brothers' stint in the National Ballet of Senegal. Tracing the family's griot roots to Mali, Kouyate grew up in Senegal and has performed with fellow African stars Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal among others. Doors at 8:30 pm; Show at 9:00 pm $15/$12 advance & students - Buy advance tickets! www.ashkenaz.com

October 7, 2001. SWISS PIANIST EVA-MARIA ZIMMERMANN is half of ZOFO. Before launching a national tour, piano duo ZOFO (Eva-Maria Zimmermann and Keisuke Nakagoshi) will be playing an intimate house concert in San Francisco October 7. Program highlights will include works by Brahms, Barber, Terry Riley, and Stravinsky. 8:00 p.m., 365 Texas Street, San Francisco, $15 (adv or door). Please email evamariazim@gmail.com to guarantee a seat.

October 7 & 9, 2011. SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE presents A SCREAMING MAN. Shot in Chad, portraying the psychological fall-out of an endless civil war, the story turns on a former swimming champion turned hotel pool man, Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), whose world collapses when he loses his job to his only son. “A quiet, tender, finally wrenching story of an individual at the intersection of the personal and the political. It’s a modest film, if only in scale and apparent budget, about some of the greatest questions in life, like the existence of God, our capacity to see beyond our own vanity and the legacies of father, both blood and state…Without reams of exposition, without slogans and lectures, it offers a vivid portrait of postcolonial Africa… “ – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times(2010, 92 min., in French and Arabic with English subtitles) Spotlight on Mahamet-Saleh Haroun:One of the leading lights of African cinema, Mahamet-Saleh Haroun was born in Chad, left the country during the civil war of the 1980’s and relocated in France to study film. Now a dozen years into his career, he excels at spinning narratives that begin with easily recognizable situations and expand to encompass allegorical and political reflection on the state of Chadian society. While occasionally compared to the work of Iranian directors Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, perhaps because of their deceptively quiet surfaces, Haroun’s films recognizably belong to an African tradition of filmmaking stretching from Ousmane Sembene to Abderrahmane Sissako that considers the place of cinema in a postcolonial Africa and, by extension, in a postcolonial world. Friday October 7 at 7:00 and Sunday, October 9 at 4:00.SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE Warren Auditorium/Ives HallSonoma State University, Rohnert Park (707) 664-2606 www.sonoma.edu/sfi$6.00 general admission $5.00 non-SSU students w/I.D., senior citizens and SSU faculty and staff $4.00 SFI members and children under 12 FREE for SSU students w/I.D. Discount tickets: 5 films for $24/$20.

October 8, 2011. DOCENT LECTURE: PARIS AND HER PAINTERS. Legion of Honor, SF. 1pm. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

October 8, 2011. DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY, ZYDECO STYLE. St. Paul of the Shipwreck, corner of 3rd & Jamestown, San Francisco. Creole-Cajun cuisine, raffles. Free dance lessons at 7pm. Music by ANDRE THIERRY AND ZYDECO MAGIC. $20 in advance; $25 at the door. 415.374.6698 or 415.822.5188 for details.

October 8, 2011. LIMYE POU AYITI… LAVI KONTINYE / LIGHT FOR HAITI… LIFE CONTINUES, at Laney College Theater
, Oakland, CA. Limyè pou Ayiti...Lavi Kontinye! is Rara Tou Limen's choreo-prayer and artistic offering to Haiti. Nineteen months later, the media's attention has shifted to other topics, while Haiti remains deeply wounded. Life has moved on for some, but for Haitian people, life will never be the same. We must continue to shed light on Haiti and remind our audiences through artistic expression, that Haiti still needs us! The motivation behind this project stems from Rara Tou Limen's Artistic & Musical Director's personal and professional relationships with Haiti's artistic community, whom were severely affected by the earthquake. Visionary choreographer, dancer and educator, Jeanguy Saintus expresses the rich fusion of Caribbean culture and the contemporary life of his country through the body. His studies include: Traditional Haitian dance, Classical, Modern, Contemporary Technique, Anthropology and Sociology. Mr. Saintus is the artistic director of Ayikodans, the premiere professional dance company of Haiti, since being established in 1987. Vodou religious culture, folk performance, free improvisation, and varied African, indigenous Indian and French influences can be found in his work. He has enabled the emergence of a new, contemporary Haitian aesthetic that, while rooted in tradition, reflects a modern Caribbean culture and creativity that would surprise many who associate the country with disaster, poverty and helplessness. Mr. Saintus is celebrated for his exciting contemporary work that connects the spiritual and the physical and honors the human body, while expanding the possibilities of the dance medium and fostering young talent, and for inspiring pride in the strength, beauty and richness of Haitian identity. Rara Tou Limen stands in solidarity with these artists by continuing to showcase the best of folkloric dance and music, which carries in it the stories, struggles, and spirit of the first free Black Republic in the world. Keeping the dance and musical traditions of Haiti alive is crucial to sustaining strength and solidarity with the people of the country. Rara Tou Limen continues to uplift a country whose culture has sustained the Bay Area's artistic community and beyond! Limyè pou Ayiti Marketplace opens at 6:30! Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland, CA 94607. 8pm-10pm. https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/196319 for details.

October 9, 2011. DOCENT LECTURE: PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSEE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS. De Young Museum, SF. 1pm. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

October 9, 2011. LA BELLE VIE. MEDIEVAL MUSIC by the FARALLON RECORDER QUARTET. Noon-2pm. Legion of Honor, SF. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

October 9, 2011. RODIN AND THE AMERICANS. Two speakers present context for the works on view in the exhibition Rodin & America. Bernard Barryte, the Center’s curator of European art, discusses Rodin's life and works, his rise to fame, and the spread of his reputation. Roberta Tarbell, professor of art history emerita, Rutgers University, and contributor to the exhibition's catalogue, speaks about the American artists who were directly or indirectly influenced by Rodin in their own work. 1pm-4pm. Cantor Arts Center, Lomita Avenue, Stanford University. http://www.museum.stanford.edu

October 12, 2011. MEET-UP DES AMI(E)S FRANCOPHONES DE SAN FRANCISCO.Carnelian By The Bay 1 Ferry Plaza, San Francisco, CA (map) We will be the ones speaking in French, bien sur! Come join us at our new venue. What a great crowd last time: 100 people and plenty of space to mingle in this large venue right on the bay.Note: Carnelian by the Bay is actually behind the Ferry Building, walk past "Sur la Table" and behind the Ferry Building and you will see it. 7pm. http://www.meetup.com/francophonesdeSF/events/35614272/?a=ea1.2_lnm&rv=ea1.2 for details.

October 12, 2011. OPENING RECEPTION FOR XAVIER CASTELLANOS’ exhibition, URBAN, at the Alliance Française de San Francisco. http://www.afsf.com for details.

October 12, 2011. CHAMPAGNES! THE FRENCH CELLAR presents WINE APPRECIATION CLASSES 2011. Regional Wines and Objects from France. 32 East Main St., Los Gatos, CA. 408.354.0993 or www.thefrenchcellar.com or jay@thefrenchcellar.com for details.

October 13, 2011. WHO WERE PISSARRO’S PEOPLE? Art history lecture by JAMES A. GANZ. De Young, SF. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

October 13, 2011. SWISSNEX presents NEXT LEVEL HEALTH: HOW GAMES IMPROVE HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE. Sure, computer games are fun, but that does not mean they can’t also have important health benefits. The evening’s program will showcase some of the most innovative applied games currently being used for health and healthcare purposes. 5:30pm. swissnex San Francisco, 730 Montgomery St., SF.

October 14 & 16, 2011. SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE presents DARATT (Dry Season) Following the announcement that the Chadian government has issued an amnesty for war criminals following decades of civil war, teenage orphan Atim is handed a revolver by his elderly grandfather and given a mission of vengeance: the boy must travel from his tiny rural village to the capital city and kill the man who many years earlier murdered his father. His target, however, turns out to be not a bloodthirsty monster but a devoutly religious Muslim baker who gruffly takes the young wouldbe assassin under his wing as an apprentice. Haroun’s elliptical story, graced with notes of humor and expressive silences, unfolds with some surprising twists before ultimately resolving into a deeply feeling drama of personal accountability and moral choice. (2006, 95 min., in French and Arabic with English subtitles)Spotlight on Mahamet-Saleh Haroun: One of the leading lights of African cinema, Mahamet-Saleh Haroun was born in Chad, left the country during the civil war of the 1980’s and relocated in France to study film. Now a dozen years into his career, he excels at spinning narratives that begin with easily recognizable situations and expand to encompass allegorical and political reflection on the state of Chadian society. While occasionally compared to the work of Iranian directors Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, perhaps because of their deceptively quiet surfaces, Haroun’s films recognizably belong to an African tradition of filmmaking stretching from Ousmane Sembene to Abderrahmane Sissako that considers the place of cinema in a postcolonial Africa and, by extension, in a postcolonial world. Friday October 14 at 7:00 and Sunday, October 16 at 4:00. SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE Warren Auditorium/Ives HallSonoma State University, Rohnert Park (707) 664-2606 www.sonoma.edu/sfi$6.00 general admission $5.00 non-SSU students w/I.D., senior citizens and SSU faculty and staff $4.00 SFI members and children under 12 FREE for SSU students w/I.D. Discount tickets: 5 films for $24/$20.

October 14-16, 2011. MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER’S LA DESCENTE D’ORPHEE AUX ENFERS. Magnificat's 20th season opens with Charpentier's emotionally-charged setting of the Orpheus myth, La Descente d'Orphée aux enfers. Composed in 1686 for one of the musical evenings at the Hôtel de Guise, Orphée is a dramatic work that defies classification, being neither pastoral, nor cantata, nor opera, yet having some characteristics of each. A unique and especially beautiful feature of this work is Charpentier's use of the viols to accompany Orpheus' plaint to Pluto and Persephone, the low sonorities expressing Orpheus' despair as well as the underworld setting. http://magnificatbaroque.com/2011-2012-season/charpentier-orphee/

Through October 15, 2011. PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE. An imagined meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein at the Parisian bar, the Lapin Agile. Town Hall Theatre Co., 3535 School St., afayette. $15-$32. www.townhalltheatre.com for details.

October 15, 2011. ALEXANDER MAKSIK discusses YOU DESERVE NOTHING, set in the Paris at an internaional high school. Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. 415.927.0960 or www.bookpassage.com for details. 1pm.

October 15-November 10, 2011. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA performs DON GIOVANNI, based on the play by MOLIERE.www.sfopera.com or 415.864.3330 for details.

Through October 16, 2011. ROSS VALLEY PLAYERS presents DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER by MARC CAMOLETTI. Translated by Robin Hawden. Directed by Richard Ryan. Bernard is planning a weekend with his chic Parisian mistress in a French farmhouse. He has arranged for a cordon bleu cook to prepare gourmet delights, is packing his wife Jacqueline off to her mother’s, and has even invited is best friend Robert to provide the alibi. What could possibly go wrong? The Barn Theatre, Marin Art & Garden Center, Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas, Ross. 415.456.9555 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com for details. $15-$25.

Through October 16, 2011. ARABIAN NIGHTS, the legendary tales of Sheherezade. COM Professor Molly Noblewill direct Tony-Award-winning playwright Mary Zimmerman’s re-telling of the mystical 1001 tales. (The tent will serve as performance space during renovation of the Performing Arts Theatre). Parking is available on Circle Drive, and at the corner of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Laurel Dr. Contact the College of Marin Foundation for reservations at (415) 485-9657.

October 16, 2011. FROM ROUEN SOFT-PASTE TO PARIS HARD-PASTE: FRENCH PORCELAIN FROM THE LATE 17TH CENTURY TO 1800. San Francisco Ceramic Circle Lecture. 10am. Legion of Honor, SF. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

October 17-21, 2011. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. On the heels of the mesmeric Bluebeard (SFIFF 2009), French auteur Catherine Breillat again delves into the piquant fairy tales of Charles Perrault for this singular, sparkling film, a reverie and rumination over slumbering lives and awakening sexual and mortal consciousness. The director’s idiosyncratic, heady and erotic aesthetic fashions a world at once palpable and ethereal, itself a waking dream, with a ludic insouciance that delights in combining allusive, painterly detail with makeshift and anachronistic improvisations. As much a tonic to the intellect as the senses, The Sleeping Beauty will keep you up all night. San Francisco Film Society, New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, SF. http://sffs.org for details.

October 17-23, 2011. PROJECT SEMAINE DU GOUT PALO ALTO – TASTING WEEK PALO ALTO. Concept: To organize the first « Tasting Week » - Semaine du Gout – in Palo Alto, from the 17th to the 23rd of October, while maintaining the original idea which made “La Semaine du gout” successful in France since 20 years, yet adapting the event to the American culture and customs. Goals: -Educational: Teach kids to appreciate flavor and taste -Cultural: Pass on to French and American kids an important aspect of French culture -Community: Make French families and Francophone's gather around a pleasant event during the fall -Sustainable development: Encourage families to play their part and to cook with their kids with seasonal local grown food. Event Format: Chef will intervene in the classrooms during the week, and there will be one event open to everybody to finalize the week on the 21st of October 1) In the classrooms : Invite a couple French Chefs (between 5 and 7) from the Bay Area to step in classrooms of two public elementary schools in Palo Alto (Barron Park and Juana Briones), the International School of the Peninsula (ISTP), and the classrooms of the FLAM d’EFBA program during the week of the 17 to the 23rd of October - Grade: 5-7 classrooms of 3rd and 4th grade (TBD) - Number of students per classroom: around 20 students - Age: 7-11 years old - More important days: Tuesday October 18th, Wednesday October 19th, Thursday October 20th - Introduction to taste by training and tasting of new and unexpected flavors which will delight kids. We wish to let the Chefs be free to choose the different programs themselves, but here are a few sample programs: - Egg transformation: From raw to cooked egg, how to beat egg white - Preparation of a French specialty: Apple pie, soufflé, quiche The afternoon: « Tasting workshop » at the Palo Alto Lucie Stern Theatre, Friday October 21 from 4pm to 8pm This program will include about ten tasting workshops for kids, with gastronomy professionals, flavor-loving parents, and will be open to everybody. The workshops will be held by volunteers with no marketing goal and will be Family-oriented. Examples of workshops: - Perfumes: How perfume influences taste, what is the essence of taste, how to differentiate them. - Chocolate: The different types of chocolates, methods of how to prepare chocolate, how to enjoy/taste chocolate. - Olive Oil: What are the different flavors that one notices in olive oil. - Spices: What do spices look like, where to they come from (flowers, fruits, wood), how can they alter the taste of meals. - Cooked or raw vegetables: how vegetables change when they are cooked, difference between different raw and cooked vegetables. - Cheeses: What are the different types of cheese, from which animal do they come from, how to enjoy them. - Strong flavors: Mustard, Roquefort, Pepper - Snails or “Escargots” - A Tango video session with chef in its kitchen for a virtual restaurant kitchen visit to kids. We have not yet determined if the workshops will be entirely held by volunteers or if we will have to call on professionals for a few workshops.

October 18 & 19, 2011. QUATUOR DE BORDEAUX. Creation World Tour Music composed by ODILE PERCEAU. The Khloros concert is a flexible orchestral ensemble, formed by professional musicians from France and abroad. The Khloros Concert can perform all repertoires and holds performances regularly. Quatuor de Bordeaux is a string quartet composed of Stephane Rougier (violin) Cecile Rouviere (violin), Tasso Adamppoulos (viola) and Etienne Peclard (cello). 10/18, California Theatre, San José; 10/19, Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. 7:30pm. Free; mandatory RSVP by October 15. http://www.khloros.org for details.

October 20, 2011. PAULA WOLFERT presents THE FOOD OF MOROCCO. Cooks with Books. Craig Claiborne described Paula Wolfert as "One of the finest and most influential cookbook authors in this country. Her recipes are done with incredible accuracy. She brings a sense of wonder to matters of taste." Wolfert has received the Julia Child Award, the James Beard Award, and the MFK Fisher Award. Join Paula Wolfert for an evening of delicious Moroccan food prepared by master chef Heidi Krahling. 6:30 pm, $115 per person ($185 per couple). Insalata's Restaurant, 120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo, CA 94960. Note: Book Passage Cooks with Books events are held at outstanding Bay Area restaurants. The meal is prepared under the supervision of the author/chef, who speaks to the group and visits with the guests throughout the meal. Coffee and conversation usually end about two hours later. These are happy, convivial, fun-filled events for any lover of fine food and wine. Tickets are purchased in advance at Book Passage or at www.bookpassage.com. The price includes the meal, wine, tax, tip, & a signed copy of the author's book. Sign up online, or call (415) 927-0960, ext. 1 to register by phone. www.bookpassage.com for details.

October 21-November 27, 2011. CUTTING BALL THEATER stages MAURICE MAETERLINCK’s avant garde classic, PELLEAS & MELISANDRE. Pelleas & Melisande has all the ingredients for a fairy tale: a princess in distress, a handsome prince, and a beautiful castle. Yet this seminal avant-garde play by French symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck, in a new translation by Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose, reveals that it is easy to hide secrets in the shadows of the familiar. After Melisande’s royal wedding, her growing feelings for her husband’s brother Pelleas threaten to jeopardize her happily ever after. The story of their tragic love affair has inspired music from Claude Debussy’s opera to orchestral works by Gabriel Faure, and Jean Sibelius. Director Rob Melrose’s production will feature a musical score by composer Cliff Caruthers, choreography by Laura Arrington, and video installation by Wesley Cabral New translation by Rob Melrose. Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor St., San Francisco. 800.838.3006 or www.cuttingball.com for details.

October 22, 2011. SIGNATURE DRIVE EVENT FOR THE SANTA ROSA FRENCH-AMERICAN CHARTER SCHOOL (SRFACS). At Santa Rosa French-American Charter School (SRFACS), we are committed to providing a strong academic curriculum in French and English, with an emphasis on critical thinking and the sciences. SRFACS will establish a personalized approach to learning with the abilities of each student being evaluated and encouraged.With a solid and balanced foundation, our students will be well positioned to thrive in the global community. By developing important life skills, including organization, discipline and responsibility, SRFACS will help foster open-minded citizens of tomorrow.Please feel free to forward this information to friends and colleagues who may be interested in enrolling their children at Santa Rosa French-American Charter School.Event location: Revolution Moto518 College Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Time: 10:30 am to 4:30 pm Questions: Please email us at info@srfacs.org

Through October 23, 2011. PHAEDRE, by JEAN RACINE. A modern take on the classic tragedy, by Adam Bock. Shotgun Players world premiere. Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley. 510.841.6500 or www.shotgunplayers.org for details.

October 23 & 30 & November 6, 2011. SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE presents FÂNTOMAS. SFI is delighted to present-for the first time here in its entirety - Louis Feuillade’s Fantômas, restored by Gaumont and the Cinémathèque Française. Five mystery films featuring the elusive master criminal will be shown over three consecutive Sundays. From April 1913 through the winter of 1914, the arch criminal Fantômas strode across the movie screens of France. Based on the immensely popular serial novels, the serial featured René Navarre as the “master of terror and torture, the emperor of crime,”often disguised as a bourgeois gentleman. Louis Feuillade’s Paris was marked by an atmosphere of what Richard Abel describes as “fantastic realism” in which the “mundane, reassuringly sober facade of daily life masks incredible, sometimes bloody exploits.” As spectators, we see a world as real as that recorded by the photographer Eugene Atget, but colored by underground violence as well as poetic reverie.” Sunday, October 23 at 4:00 Part 1: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (A l’ombre de la guillotine) and Part 2: Juve vs. Fantômas (Juve contre Fantômas) (110, min. silent) Sunday, October 30 at 4:00 Part 3: The Dead Man Who Kills (Le Mort que tue) (85 min.) Sunday, November 6 at 4:00 Part 4: Fantômas vs. Fantômas (Fantômas contre Fantômas) and Part 5: The False Magistrate (Le Faux Magistrat) (122 mins). SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE Warren Auditorium/Ives HallSonoma State University, Rohnert Park (707) 664-2606 www.sonoma.edu/sfi$6.00 general admission $5.00 non-SSU students w/I.D., senior citizens and SSU faculty and staff $4.00 SFI members and children under 12 FREE for SSU students w/I.D. Discount tickets: 5 films for $24/$20. See also: http://www.fantomas-lives.com/fanto4.htm and http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2010/11/11/how-to-watch-fantomas-and-why/

October 26, 2011. SARAH BAKEWELL presents HOW TO LIVE: A LIFE OF MONTAIGNE IN ONE QUESTION AND TWENTY ATTEMPTS AT AN ANSWER. How to live? That was the question that obsessed Renaissance writer Michel Eyquem de Monatigne. A nobleman, public official and wine-grower, he wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before which he called “essays,” meaning “attempts” or “tries.” Into them, he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, sexual and romantic encounters, as well as the appalling events of the religious civil wars raging around him. His Essays were an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, Montaigne’s honesty, charm and wisdom still appeal. Sarah Bakewell was a curator of early printed books at the Wellcome Library before becoming a full-time writer, publishing her highly acclaimed biographies The Smart and The English Dane. She lives in London, where she teaches creative writing at City University and catalogs rare book collections for the National Trust. HOW TO LIVE won the prestigious 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.Admission: Members Free / Day-pass Membership $12 Location: 4th Floor Meeting Room Contact: RSVP - rsvp@milibrary.org / (415) 393 – 0100 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm. http://www.milibrary.org/events/how-live-life-montaigne-one-question-and-twenty-attempts-answer-sarah-bakewell

October 26, 2011. DELUXE RED BORDEAUX. THE FRENCH CELLAR presents WINE APPRECIATION CLASSES 2011. Regional Wines and Objects from France. 32 East Main St., Los Gatos, CA. 408.354.0993 or www.thefrenchcellar.com or jay@thefrenchcellar.com for details. Classes will be held on Wednesday evenings at 7 PM for approximately 2 hours and are limited to 16 participants. The cost of classes including 8 wines or Champagnes for tasting is $60 per person, except for Deluxe and Champagne classes, which are $90 per person. A selection of French cheeses will be served buffet-style for your enjoyment and to relate the wine to food during our tasting. Reservations should be booked in advance with a credit card and cancellations must be made within 24 hours of each class for a refund. We look forward to you joining us in tasting our great wine finds and wine values from France!

October 26-29, 2011. THE DESDEMONA PROJECT, a collaboration between Toni Morrison, Peter Sellars, and ROKIA TRAORÉ, comes to Cal Performances. An intimate and profound conversation from beyond the grave between Shakespeare’s Desdemona and Barbara, the woman Shakespeare identifies as the African nurse who raised her. After centuries of colonialism and racism, the two women share stories, songs, determination, and hope for a different future. Traoré, who wrote the music and sings the title role, plays off the GRIOT tradition, transforming and extending classic MALIAN MUSIC into a truly mesmerizing sound. Cal Performances, Zellerbach Playhouse. 510.642.9988 or http://calperformances.org for details.

October 27, 2011. LA VILLE LOUVRE by NICOLAS PHILIBERT. In this elegantly filmed documentary, French director Nicolas Philibert shows the everyday life of the mighty Louvre museum, a universe in itself, housed in a medieval castle, a city within the city, with miles of hallways and underground passages. La Ville Louvre takes the form of a classic “city symphony,” which begins at daybreak, ends at nightfall and chronicles the lives of urban dwellers at work and at play. Works of art, revealed in a new context, come alive as “fragile and exotic creatures captured in a web of human labor.”Come and see this spellbinding behind-the-scene look at a secret world of private chambers and vast reserves containing countless —and priceless— paintings, sculptures and artifacts. No narration: we learn everything from comments directly made by some of the cast of a thousand at work in the Louvre: guards, conservators, carpenters, electricians, guilders, sound technicians and chefs, all showcased, with humanity and humor, by Nicolas Philibert. In French, with English subtitles. The film will be briefly presented in French by CCSF instructor Renée Morel, and followed by a discussion. Free and open to all. Open seating (first come, first served). Free parking at the school. IMPORTANT: The school being a real House of Escher, please come early to locate the room, as latecomers disturb everybody. 6:30pm—8:45pm. Everett Middle School, Room 232, 450 Church St. (between 16th & 17th Streets, San Francisco.

October 27, 2011. LAST THURSDAY AT HOTEL REX for LES AMI(E)S FRANCOPHONES DE SAN FRANCISCO. Back by popular demand! "Last Thursday at Hotel Rex" will return into the mix of our wonderful Meetups. This old-time San Francisco hotel bar has been for several years the spot of our 'Petite Meetups' on the last Thursday each month. Then my office moved and the location became difficult for me to get to. Thanks to two devoted amis francophone, Kristine & Jim, they have offered to act as hosts when I cannot make it. So count on seeing this on the calendar each month. Thanks Kristine & Jim! Rachel www.meetup.com - Les Ami(e)s francophones de San Francisco. 7:00pm. Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter St, San Francisco. We are the group speaking in French.

October 27-November 2, 2011. FRENCH CINEMA NOW! For the 4th consecutive year from October 27th to November 2nd, the French American Cultural Society is proud to be the Presenting Organization of the French Cinema Now.This weeklong annual festival brings the most significant new work from French Language Cinema. Covering a broad spectrum of subject matter and genres. French Cinema Now delivers vital filmmakers in person to San Francisco audiences. http://www.facs-sf.org/ for details.

October 27 & November 2, 2011. SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY & the CONSULAT GENERAL DE FRANCE offer special FRENCH CINEMA NOW! film screenings for high school S\students and their teachers. Films: 10/27, 10am, LE GAMIN AU VELO; 10/27, 12pm, LA PERMISSION DE MINUIT, and 11/2, 10am, LE HAVRE. RSVP essential: kzwolfer@sffs.org or 415.561.5040 with name, school, # of students, film choice.

Opening October 28, 2011. GAINSBOURG (VIE HEROIQUE). Taking the best from “La vie en Rose” and “Amelie”, Joann Sfar’s “Gainsbourg” is a completely original take on one of France’s greatest mavericks, the illustrious and infamous Serge Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino), brought to us by one of the most renowned comic book artists of our time.Young Lucien parades around Nazi occupied Paris in 1941 with a yellow star, which he has craftily turned into a sheriff star, pinned to his jacket. After graduating from art school years later, the disillusioned artist tries to earn a living by playing the piano in local bars… and thus came about the cabaret star of the Swinging Sixties: Serge Gainsbourg. Eric Elmosnino won the Best actor César Awards for his perform in the movie Gainsbourg. Landmark Theatres.

October 29, 2011. OPEN HOUSE AT THE ECOLE DE L’ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE SANTA ROSA. All current or prospective AFSR students and their friends are invited to attend this event just before the beginning of our November-December session of classes. Take a tour of the Foyer Choose some French books (for free) at our Book Fair Take the chance to meet some of the AFSR instructors and students Get informed about the upcoming cultural activities of AFSR Share your ideas about ways in which our classes can help you improve your French or prepare a trip to France Play a game and win a prize Enjoy refreshments over conversation in French or in English Come and join the fun! 4525 Montgomery Drive, Suite 2A, Santa Rosa on Saturday October 29, 2-4pm.

October 29, 2011. POMPLAMOOSE performs in the San Francisco Jazz Festival. 9pm. YBCA Forum. 866.920.5299 or www.sfjazz.org for details.

October 29-November 4, 2011. CLERESTORY performs THE CATHEDRAL AND THE LADY. Clerestory's sixth season opens with a tribute to Paris' Cathedral of Notre Dame, with ethereal polyphony spanning nearly a thousand years. Harmonies from Pérotin and Machaut to Poulenc and Pärt evoke the splendor of the Gothic age. SAN FRANCISCO, Saturday, October 29, 8:00pm
St. Dominic's Catholic Church; BERKELEY, Sunday, October 30, 4:00pm
St. Mark's Episcopal Church; SAN FRANCISCO, Friday, November 4, 7:30pm Herbst Theater. http://clerestory.org/concerts.php

October 30, 2011. PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY ~ COUNTERTENOR WITH APOLLO’S FIRE. The French American Cultural Society will be pleased to invite the 20 first ticket holders, who contact events@facs-sf.org, to a private reception with Philippe Jaroussky following his performance. Handel and Vivaldi Fireworks Phenomenal French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has captured the attention of music lovers everywhere, including Cecilia Bartoli, who said, "There is a beauty in his phrasing and a delicacy, if not fragility in his soul, that touches the listener profoundly." He joins Apollo's Fire, among the finest of American Baroque orchestras, for a journey through the gamut of human emotions, as experienced through the roles created for the great castrato singers of the 18th century. 3pm. Supported by French Cultural Services and French American Cultural Society. Cal Performances, 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley 510.642.9988 or http://www.calperformances.org for details.

CINEMA

You will find here below details on special screenings.
All titles are listed in alphabetical order, with special dates given in red.. .
Check local listings for show times!

A BOUT PORTANT / POINT BLANK (dir. Fred Cavayé). Lellouche plays Samuel, a nurse working at a hospital when his pregnant wife (Anaya) is kidnapped before his very eyes. Knocked unconscious, he comes to and discovers that a dangerous criminal named Sartet (Zem) is responsible, and if he's ever to see his wife again, he must do Sartet’s bidding. Samuel quickly finds himself pitted against rival gangsters and trigger-happy police in a deadly race against time through Paris’ streets and subways to save his wife and unborn child. Produced by Cyril Colbeau-Justin and Jean-Baptiste Dupont (MR 73, 36 and Gangsters). Official Selection: 2011 Tribeca International Film Festival.CinéArts at Marin, Sausalito; Opera Plaza, SF.

CRIME D’AMOUR. Directed by Alain Corneau. Within the sterile offices of a powerful multinational corporation, two women come to a face-off in director/co-writer Alain Corneau's mystery thriller Love Crime. Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier) is a young executive under the orders of Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas), a powerful woman she absolutely idolizes. Confident of her control over Isabelle, Christine leads her into a confusing, perverse game of seduction and domination. A dangerous game that goes too far—to the point of no return. Also starring Patrick Mille. Smith-Rafael, San Rafael, www.cafilm.org and also Albany; Clay, SF.

ELLE S’APPELAIT SARAH / SARAH’S KEY. Paris, July 1942: Sarah (Mélusine Mayance), a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard—their secret hiding place—and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released. Sixty-seven years later: Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas), an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future. Also starring Aidan Quinn, Sarah's Key is based on the novel by Tatiana De Rosnay. Opera Plaza.. www.landmarketheaters.com for details.

GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE. Taking the best from LA VIE EN ROSE and AMÉLIE, renowned comic book artist Joann Sfar’s film is a completely original take on one of France’s greatest mavericks, the illustrious and infamous singer-songwriter, Serge Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino). Born Lucien Ginsburg to Russian-Jewish parents, Serge evolves from precocious child in Nazi-occupied Paris, to small time jazz musician, and finally international pop superstar. Along the way, he romances many of the era’s most beautiful women, including Juliette Greco (Anna Mouglalis), Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta) and Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon). Employing a witty surrealistic style and a soundtrack that showcases the musician’s greatest hits, GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE is a sensual delight and a quintessential time capsule of 1960’s Paris. (A Music Box Films release Directed by Joann Sfar. Stars Eric Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta, Doug Jones, Sara Forestier. ). http://www.gainsbourgaheroiclife.com for details. Opening October 28, 2011.

MOZART’S SISTER. Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart (Marie Feret) is five years older than Wolfgang (David Moreau) and a musical prodigy in her own right. Originally the featured performer, she gives way to Wolfgang as the main attraction as their father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring before the royal courts of pre-French Revolution Europe. Forbidden to play the violin or compose as she approaches marriageable age, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed on her gender. But a friendship with the son and daughter of Louis XV offers an alternative… (A Music Box Films release) Directed by René Féret. Stars Marie Féret, Marce Barbé, Delphine Chuillot, David Moreau, Clovis Fouin. http://www.mozartssister.com for details. Bridge; Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley; Rafael Film Center, San Rafael.

MYSTERIES OF LISBON. Director Raúl Ruiz's masterful adaptation of the eponymous 19th-century Portuguese novel (by Camilo Castelo Branco) evokes the complex intertwined narratives of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. The core story centers on Joao, the bastard child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. But this is just the start of an engrossing tale that plunges us into a veritable whirlwind of adventures and escapades, coincidences and revelations, sentiments and violent passions, vengeance and love affairs, all wrapped in a rhapsodic voyage that takes us from Portugal, France, Italy and as far as Brazil. Embarcadero Center, SF.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. On the heels of the mesmeric Bluebeard (SFIFF 2009), French auteur Catherine Breillat again delves into the piquant fairy tales of Charles Perrault for this singular, sparkling film, a reverie and rumination over slumbering lives and awakening sexual and mortal consciousness. The director’s idiosyncratic, heady and erotic aesthetic fashions a world at once palpable and ethereal, itself a waking dream, with a ludic insouciance that delights in combining allusive, painterly detail with makeshift and anachronistic improvisations. As much a tonic to the intellect as the senses, The Sleeping Beauty will keep you up all night. San Francisco Film Society, New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, SF. http://sffs.org for details. October 17-21, 2011.

LA VILLE LOUVRE by NICOLAS PHILIBERT. In this elegantly filmed documentary, French director Nicolas Philibert shows the everyday life of the mighty Louvre museum, a universe in itself, housed in a medieval castle, a city within the city, with miles of hallways and underground passages. La Ville Louvre takes the form of a classic “city symphony,” which begins at daybreak, ends at nightfall and chronicles the lives of urban dwellers at work and at play. Works of art, revealed in a new context, come alive as “fragile and exotic creatures captured in a web of human labor.”Come and see this spellbinding behind-the-scene look at a secret world of private chambers and vast reserves containing countless —and priceless— paintings, sculptures and artifacts. No narration: we learn everything from comments directly made by some of the cast of a thousand at work in the Louvre: guards, conservators, carpenters, electricians, guilders, sound technicians and chefs, all showcased, with humanity and humor, by Nicolas Philibert. In French, with English subtitles. The film will be briefly presented in French by CCSF instructor Renée Morel, and followed by a discussion. Free and open to all. Open seating (first come, first served). Free parking at the school. IMPORTANT: The school being a real House of Escher, please come early to locate the room, as latecomers disturb everybody. 6:30pm—8:45pm. Everett Middle School, Room 232, 450 Church St. (between 16th & 17th Streets, San Francisco. October 27, 2011

ALSO NOTE: ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE SAN FRANCISCO CINEMATHEQUE. Second & Fourth Wednesdays of the month, 7pm. Enjoy the latest releases from France sur le grand ecran with AFSF ciné-philes and discussion en français. Straight from the AFSF Médiathèque. Visit http://www.afsf.com for updates on featured films. Suggested donation of $5.

ART

October 5, 2011 – January 1, 2012. RODIN AND AMERICA: INFLUENCE AND ADAPTATION, 1876-1936. Auguste Rodin, the most famous sculptor of his day, not only appealed to sophisticated American collectors but also had a profound influence on American artists, beginning in the 1890s and persisting for decades after Rodin's death in 1917. This exhibition is the first to examine the scope of this influence, analyzing the impact of both his work itself and his ideas on sculptors, such as Malvina Hoffman and Lorado Taft, as well as on artists working in two-dimensions, such as the photographer Edward Steichen and the painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Cantor Center for the Arts, Lomita Drive, Stanford University. www.museum.stanford.edu for details.

October 7-November 10, 2-11. LATITUDES: SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS FROM FRANCE & NEW ZEALAND. Creative Growth hosts an exhibition of self-taught artwork from France and New Zealand, exploring the phenomenon of the untrained artist and the widely celebrated, international current of creativity within this field. On the West Coast for the first time–drawings by French self-taught artists including, Pierre Albasser, Jean Michel Chesne and Gerard Sendrey. Also having a West Coast debut, are the paintings and ceramic works from New Zealand-based artists, Andrew Blythe, Robert Rapson, Ray Ritchie and Martin Thompson, of the Massey University research project for Self Taught and Visionary Art, led by Professor Stuart Shepherd. Representing the arts and disability field in the Bay Area are works by Creative Growth artists David Albertsen, Juan Aguilera, Dinah Shapiro, and William Tyler, among many others. Creative Growth, 355 24th Street, Oakland. http://creativegrowth.org for details. Opening October 7, 5pm-9pm.

October 7-27, 2011. SWISS GAME DESIGN EXHIBITION. The Swiss Game Design exhibition highlights the technological and creative potential of game design in Switzerland and provides visitors with insights into both the artistic and technical aspects of game creation. Don’t miss this opportunity to get an inside view of Switzerland’s emerging games industry and test out some of its best new games. swissnex San Francisco, 730 Montgomery St., SF.

Through October 9, 2011. PICASSO FROM THE MUSEE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS.The de Young hosts an extraordinary exhibition of more than 100 masterpieces by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) from the permanent collection of Paris’s world-renowned Musée National Picasso. The once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, made possible only because of the temporary closure of the Musée Picasso until 2012 for extensive renovations, comprises paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints drawn from every phase of the artist’s career. The de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco. http://deyoung.famsf.org for details.

Through October 16, 2011. FACE OF OUR TIME. Face of Our Time examines the work of five photographers--including the Swiss artist Daniel Schwartz--who operate within what Walker Evans referred to as the "documentary style." Sharing an interest in making pictures that capture what the world looks like, they observe the sometimes volatile civil and political transformations facing society and look reflectively at contemporary culture, recording history as it unfolds slowly over time. Schwartz reveals the overlapping narratives between the Silk Route's ancient history and the military and economic power struggles that it faces today.Organized by SFMOMA and supported by Pro Helvetia, the exhibition will include more than 100 photographs.The exhibition runs through October 16, and there will be a public event on the day of the opening.Face of Our Time: Photography Exhibition July 7 - October 16, 2011 SFMOMA 151 Third Street San Francisco Artist Talk Face of Our Time: Jim Goldberg, Richard Misrach, and Daniel Schwartz, artists July 7, 7 p.m. Phyllis Wattis Theater, SFMOMA For more information, visit www.sfmoma.org Supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

Through October 16, 2011. ILLUSTRATED TITLE PAGES: 1500-1900. Includes works by ODILON REDON and others. Cantor Arts Center, Lomita Drive, Stanford University. 650.723.4177 or http://www.museum.stanford.edu for details.

October 22, 2011 – January 22, 2012. PISSARRO’S PEOPLE. Camille Pissarro had a unique and lifelong interest in the human figure. From his earliest years in the Caribbean and Venezuela until his death in Paris in 1903, Pissarro drew, painted, and made prints featuring human subjects from every walk of life, which outnumber the figural works of his colleagues Monet and Sisley. Pissarro’s People celebrates the painter’s humanism in all its aspects and brings together nearly 100 works of art, including some 37 paintings and numerous works on paper made over the course of his entire career. Highlights include portraits of the artist’s friends and family as well as notable genre scenes set in the fields and marketplaces of rural France. Pissarro’s paintings of townspeople, peasants, and farm workers stress their individuality rather than their mythic qualities, which so preoccupied Millet, his predecessor in the agricultural figural tradition. The cast of characters Pissarro represented reflects his unique engagement in contemporary political, social, and economic issues. The exhibition reconsiders Pissarro’s people within this rich contextual setting. De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, SF. http://deyoung.famsf.org for details.

Through October 29, 2011. MODERN MASTERS: WORKS FROM THE 1910s-60s. Including works by LE CORBUSIER and more. www.modernisminc.com or 415.541.0461 for details.

Through October 29, 2011. CYANOTYPES by CHRISTIAN MARCLAY. Swiss artist Christian Marclay, whose video work The Clock won him the Golden Lion at this year's Venice Biennale, is exhibiting an exhibition of his cyanotype photograms at San Francisco's Fraenkel Gallery through next month. An early form of photography, here Marclay resurrects the cyanotype to document music cassette tapes that he has physically altered, suggesting interpretations relating to mass culture, music, and visual art alike. Fraenkl Gallery, 49 Geary St., SF. www.fraenkelgallery.com for details.

Through October 31, 2011. XAVIER CASTELLANOS presents his colorful series of paintings, URBAN, at the Alliance Française de San Francisco. http://www.afsf.com for details. Opening reception October 12, 2011.

Through October 31, 2011. BENJAMEN CHINN’S PARIS: 1950-1951. Smith Andersen North is pleased to present Benjamen Chinn’s Paris, 1950-51. Born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Benjamen Chinn found inspiration in the everyday, often photographing from his front stoop the shopkeepers, schoolchildren and passersby who populate his compositions. Like his fellow graduates from the California School of Fine Arts in the '40s and '50s (a period at the school known as The Golden Decade), Chinn honed his sensibility with some of the best photographers of the day, including Minor White, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange and Edward Weston. After graduating, he headed to Paris and produced a lively and poignant body of work – a testament to his unique gift for finding the idiosyncrasies in urban street life, as well as an enduring record of post-war Paris. 20 Greenfield Avenue, San Anselmo, CA 94960 T 415 455 9733For additional information, please contactJennifer O'Keeffe or Stefan Kirkeby at 415 455 9733, or e-mail: info@smithandersennorth.com or http://www.smithandersennorth.com/

Through October 31, 2011. EUROPEAN BATTLEFIELDS by PETER HEBEISEN. Gallery 291, 291 Geary Steet, SF. 415.291.9001 or www.gallery291.net for details.

Through November 5, 2011. LAUREN MARSOLIER / MARC FICHOU. E6 Gallery presents recent work by French artists Lauren Marsolier and Marc Fichou. In their San Francisco debut, both will address our relationship to images through various mediums.Echoing our simulated environments, Lauren Marsolier creates photographs by assembling different shots in a way that deliberately lets us suspect their fabricated nature. Unlike traditional photography that seizes an instant of reality, her images are built over the course of several months and convey a sense of timelessness that prompts us to contemplate them as we would a painting.In Marc Fichou’s work, matter and its image are inextricably woven: his photographs or videos are embedded within the very material used to construct the image they display. His self-referential pieces contain their own memory, a record or recording of the past, blending with their material (and often reflective) surface. Instead of providing a window to an elsewhere, as images commonly do, they are used as a means to bring our attention back to the materiality of our present, to the here and now.Robert Berman/E6 Gallery, 1632 Market Street, San Francisco. http://e6gallery.com

Through November 12, 2011. THINK ART. ART SCIENCE, ARTISTS-IN LABS. A sculptor at CERN, a sound artist in a neuroscience lab, an architect embedded in the department of psychology. The results of these unlikely pairings make up the exhibition, Think Art - Act Science, which showcases eight works developed during a nine-month residency called Swiss artists-in-labs, which places, you guessed it, artists, in scientific settings such as research institutes and university science departments. The exhibition is built around three main themes: Ecology and Environment, Spatial Awareness and Emotions, and Exploration of New Technologies. In parallel with Think Art - Act Science, Swissnex San Francisco and the San Francisco Art Institute host a series of lectures, conferences, and workshops to discuss and deepen the partnership between science and the arts. San Francisco Art Institute, Walter and McBean Galleries, 800 Chestnut Street Campus, San Fracisco, www.sfai.edu for details.

Through November 27, 2011. THE GRAPHIC NOVEL: OF MICE AND MEN by PIERRE-ALAIN BERTOLA. This exhibition at Salinas's National Steinbeck Center displays over 40 original black and white illustrations by Swiss artist Pierre-Alain Bertola, culled from his graphic novel based on John Steinbeck's classic.This year, the well-received French language comic book, Des souris et des hommes, D'Aprés Le Roman De John Steinbeck, will be published in English, and is being honored with this exhibition in Steinbeck's birthplace.National Steinbeck Center, 1 Main Street, Salinas, CA. http://www.steinbeck.org for details.

Through December 1, 2011. BENJAMEN CHINN: PARIS 1950-1951. New Photography Exhibition Illustrates Parisian Street Life. When photographer Benjamen Chinn (1921–2009) traveled to Paris to document Parisian street life from 1950 through 1951, he brought with him his innate sense of form and composition acquired over many years of creating intimate portraits of everyday life in San Francisco’s Chinatown district where Chinn was born and raised. Chinn’s images of families, musicians, children, students, shopkeepers, workers, and other features of daily Parisian life are an enduring photographic record by a gifted and important chronicler of urban-street life at home and abroad.Benjamen Chinn: Paris 1950­­–1951 is on view in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F from September 2, 2011 through December 1, 2011. The exhibition is located post-security and is only accessible to passengers ticketed for travel through Terminal 3. There is no charge to view the exhibition. San Francisco Airport. Images from the exhibition are available for download at: http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/about/press_images/exh-benjamen_chinn.html.

Through January 1, 2011. THE MOURNERS: TOMB SCULPTURES FROM THE COURT OF BURGUNDY. 39 sculptures from the tomb of John the Fearless (1371–1419), the second duke of Burgundy. His elaborate tomb, once housed at a monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, is now one of the centerpieces of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. The exhibition draws almost entirely from the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. Lincoln Park | 100 34th Avenue • San Francisco, CA 94121 | 415.750.3600 http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/mourners-tomb-sculpture-court-burgundy

Ongoing. SURREALISM: SELECTIONS FROM THE REVA AND DAVID LOGAN COLLECTION OF ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.Found or random objects, textures, and imagery were central to Surrealism, as was the acceptance of dreams as worthy subject matter. Surrealism was as much a literary movement as an artistic one, and it involved an extraordinary number of the leading writers and poets of the day at one time or another. This exhibition brings together the works of some of the finest Surrealist poets and artists, whose collaborations produced both luxurious and outrageous artist’s books.California Palace of the Legion of Honor,Lincoln Park, 34th & Clement, San Francisco http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/

On-going. A NEW 19TH CENTURY : THE MONDAVI FAMILY GALLERY REINSTALLED. Reconfigured 19th century European and American collections. Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Lomita Drive and Museum Way, Stanford University, Palo Alto. 650.723.4177 or http://museum.stanford.edu for details.

On-going. MODERN EUROPEAN MASTERS, including MATISSE, PICASSO, CHAGALL and more. Meyerovich Gallery, 251 Post, SF. 415.421.7171 or http://meyerovich.com for details.

On-going. MATISSE AND BEYOND: THE PAINTING AND SCULPTURE COLLECTION. SF Museum of Modern Art. Magnificent works of painting and sculpture culled from SFMOMA's own collections provide a quick tour of modern art from Fauvism to Minimalism. Daily. Exhibition tells the story of modern and contemporary art including landmark works by MATISSE, BOURGEOIS and others. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St., San Francisco. 415.357.4000 or www.sfmoma.org

DOMINIQUE AMENDOLA. New art website of note (fun to browse): Dominique Amendola is a French born painter who focuses primarily on landscapes and figures using gorgeously vibrant colors to create scenes of amazing clarity. Her art is figurative yet remains contemporary and spur of the moment. Her paintings depict ordinary day-to-day life of people in snapshots, either in nature or life in a bustling city. http://dominiqueamendola.com

ARTS OF FASHION. Yearly competition brings guest designers from PARIS and BRUXELLES to work with and select prizes for United States fashion students. The grand prizes offered to the US fashion students are internships in high profile fashion design houses as Castelbajac or Anne Valerie Hash or the school of the Chambre syndicale in Paris... Or Brussels for La Cambre or Antwerp for Veronique Branquinho or Vienna for Wendy&Jim... Contact: Nathalie Doucet, President Arts of Fashion Foundation, 635 Tennessee Street Suite # 402, San Francisco CA 94107. Tel 415 252 0734 http://www.af-competition.com or http://www.myspace.com/artsoffashion

FLORENCE DE BRETAGNE. Florence de Bretagne is a French painter and photographer. Her work is full of joy and very colorful. It has always something to do with new life : imaginary plants that are flourishing, blossoms, seeds. It seems that nature is new and beautiful like new-born babies. She took abstract pictures of fruits and vegetables (a very poetic book, "Semence", is still available), she made paintings on trees and imaginary plants, and many others. You can see her work either in the SFMOMA gallery at Fort Mason, or in her atelier (756 Garland Drive in Palo Alto), or else on her website : http://www.florencedebretagne.com

CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPES OF SOUTHERN FRANCE, by ANDREA WEDELL. Expat Andrea Wedell, originally from the Bay Area and living in France for the past 24 years, would love for you to visit her painting : contemporary landscapes of Southern France. She works with texture and vibrant, bold color that is built up in multiple layers and glazed on. Her landscapes are semi-abstract to abstract poetic interpretations of her environment in Cassis, or bits and pieces of it as she sees and feels it– from lively, magical gardens with their sweet smells , to turquoise and deep orange underwater scenes, pink and bright white cliffs built up over millions of years, villages that have retained their authentic charm, sparkling ocean and wide expanses of sky. You can see her work virtually on her website : www.gallerywedell.com If you sign up on the blog, you will receive monthly posts, a journal of art and life in the South of France. www.gallerywedell.com/blog

October 10-14, 2011. FRENCH FOR TRAVELERS. French For Travelers is back! (with new hours). From Monday Oct 10th - Friday Oct 14th from 1:30 pm to 3:30 everyday! For beginner and intermediate students who are traveling to France. www.afsf.com for details.

October 24-December 9, 2011. CONVERSATIONAL FRENCH: FIRST YEAR, FIRST AND SECOND QUARTERS, taught by ANNE MARIE LEBAS. College of Marin Community Education Program, www.marin.edu/CommunityEducation for details.

October 25-December 6, 2011. AFRICAN DANCE, taught by LISA SAUNDERS. College of Marin Community Education Program, www.marin.edu/CommunityEducation for details.

November 19, 2011. SATURDAY PRONUNCIATION INTENSIVE presented by Dominique Brémond. $85.Includes handouts. Snacks & drinks (including wine and cheese) provided during the breaks. For level 4 and up.A unique approach to French pronunciation. This workshop will change your understanding of French sounds forever and will definitely improve your pronunciation and subsequently, your comprehension.Space is limited. Please sign up early and call 415.362.3666. Merci.10:00 to 11:00 a.m. - the 7 basic sounds and nasals.11:00 to noon - combinations of vowels and special sounds.12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (wine and cheese) - liaisons, intonations and rhythm.1:00 to 2:00 p.m. - contractions and spoken French.Level 1 to 3 students may sign up for half of the intensive if space allows. Next pronunciation intensive: FEBRUARY 25, 2012. www.thefrenchclass.com

December 19-23, 2011. FIVE-DAY INTENSIVE COURSE atTHE FRENCH CLASS. A great way to practice your French before going to France. All levels are offered (separately), 3 hours per day, either in the morning (9 to 12) or afternoon (1 to 4) or evening (6 to 9). 15 hours of instruction for $275 or $25 off ($250) if you pay before December 1. Please call us to sign up at 415.362.3666 or for more information. A bientôt! www.thefrenchclass.com

SANTA ROSA FRENCH-AMERICAN CHARTER SCHOOL.SRFACS will open in the fall of 2012 for first through fourth grades, and will expand through the eighth grade in the future. This information is being provided as a courtesy to you. There is no affiliation between SRFACS (Santa Rosa French-American Charter School) and AFSR (Alliance Française de Santa Rosa). For more information about the Charter School, please contact Nas Salamati: info@srfacs.org If interested in sending your children to SRFACS, please sign the SRFACS Petition and send it to: SRFACS (Santa Rosa French-American Charter School) 2097 Stagecoach Rd, Suite 220 Santa Rosa, CA 95404 US On Friday the 8th of April 2011, Jacqueline Lindenfeld and I attended an informational meeting about a proposed Santa Rosa French-American Charter School known as SRFACS. This meeting was well attended, and we were impressed by the presenters who are leaders in the community in the fields of education and health/nutrition. Other members are leaders in the fields of communications and engineering. SRFACS will open in the fall of 2012 for first through fourth grades, and will expand through the eighth grade in the future. Their goal is to offer children a solid education based on high academic standards and exposure to the global world. The dual-immersion French-American Charter School curriculum will employ a formula with a proven track record in private schools, and more recently, in charter schools on the East Coast. This opportunity will now be extended to everyone in our community via a free public charter school. Any parent interested in having their child enrolled in a charter school focused on academic excellence with an opening to the global world is a parent SRFACS would love to have. There are no enrollment ‘requirements’ (speaking French for example), and that is one of the great strengths of this school. SRFACS is currently gathering signatures of parents interested in enrolling their children. You may contact this organization at: info@srfacs.org, or sign the petition above and mail it in. Lise Melin Directrice de l’école @ AFSR.

"CHOUCHOU" ~ FRENCH FOR TODDLERS AT SEESAW CAFÉ. French for toddlers (weekly classes)Parents come connect while your kids play, make new friends and learn in French! Chouchou is a fun and structured language-immersion play group for children 1 - 5 years of age. This playful and interactive class is led by Vanessa Portois-Wermter. Material is presented multi-modally through picture books, stories, art, songs and dancing. French language fluency is not required but French will be spoken 90% of the time. Let the little ones explore and laugh as they learn about animals, instruments, food, feelings, body parts and more! Wednesdays 10.30am to 11.30am - WeeklyPre-registration required.Tuition for 4 sessions is $100 | 1 session is $30. To learn more email vanessa at vanessa.portois@gmail.com and to register, visit seesawsf.com. Seesaw Cafe (? 1.415.553.8070 - 600A Octavia St.) http://seesawsf.com/workshops.php

NEW CLASSES AT eLYCEE. Openings :AP Classes : Tuesday and Thursday – 7pm eastern time; Maintien de la langue : A1 to C2 (ask for schedule); French Teacher training : on Saturdays. Also: 11 yr old and 13 yr old students are looking for classmates.A colleague, Teacher of French, has two kids who know and understand some words in French and would like them to perform in French.eLycée agrees to open a class for each student if we find at least to more kids around that age. If you are interested, please contact me : Christine.frin@elycee.com Classes on weekend - one hour a week - $25/h

Wednesdays & Fridays. FRENCH FOR FREE AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Please note: French for Free IS NOT A CLASS. It is a free conversation group open to people who speak some French and would like to practice. Everyone is welcome. Being enrolled in one of our classes is NOT required. Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. Fridays from 12:00 to 12:45 p.m. The French Class, 500 Sutter Street, Ste. 310, SF, CA 94102. (415) 362-3666. info@frenchclass.com or www.frenchclass.com for details.

PAINTING COURSES AND HOLIDAYS IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. Join English painter and teacher Nicola on one of her fun creative courses in the Languedoc area in the south of France. Learn or improve your drawing and painting skills, how to work in watercolours ‘plein air’, or for something quite different, how to paint furniture and accessories with that French ‘Shabby Chic’ style while staying in a Château on the banks of Le Canal du Midi. Every year Nicola hosts a variety of courses and holidays in both the Languedoc and Provence and can be booked by private groups. www.painting-holidays-france.com

FRENCH FOR FUN - Lafayette, California We have been teaching in the San Francisco East Bay for over 30 years, and we attribute our success to our unique teaching style. Madame Catherine Jolivet, a native of France, is the visionary founder, educator, and leader of the program. The curriculum is a synthesis of the best educational methods - from Montessori to the Project Approach! Academics and the Arts are woven together, and the result is a program that prepares children with skills that lay a foundation for elementary school success. By fostering a sense of fun and adventure our students will discover and develop language and cultural communication skills to empower them as responsible global citizens. Our Early Childhood Program is licensed through the California Department of Social Services, and our After School Program was recently awarded Heritage School status. Early Childhood Classes and most Elementary School Classes take place in a Total Immersion Environment. To reach French For Fun, please phone 925-283-9822 or stop by 3468 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite B100, Lafayette CA 94549 (in the Corporate Terrace Office Complex).

WORKING IN FRANCE. Online presentation on the topic of working in France, presented by Laurence Raybois, a consultant specialized in assisting Americans wishing to work/live in France. The presentation costs $20 and lasts about one hour. It comes complete with handouts and a free 15-minute follow-up consultation with Laurence Raybois. It covers visas/cartes de séjour, regulated professions, how EU regulations may be used to work in France and the rights of accompanying family members, among many topics. http://www.americansmovingtofrance.com

NEW CLASSES FOR SUMMER at the ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE BERKELEY. Come and enjoy our current and new classes such as; “Révision”, “Cours intensif”, “Conversation”, “lecture”,”chansons” … Please see our schedules for beginners, intermediate, or advanced classes. To register please call 510 548 7481 or info@afberkeley.org

LEARN FRENCH ONLINE WITH SKYPE AND THE FRENCH CLASS. Learn, speak and practice French face to face with your teacher just like in a classroom. It's easy and very effective for students of any level, even complete beginners! Skype is FREE and VERY easy to install and use. The rates are: $20 x 20 for twenty 30 minute lessons paid in advance ($400) $25 x 10 for ten 30 minute lessons paid in advance ($250) $28 x 5 for five 30 minute lessons paid in advance ($140) $30 for one single 30 minute lesson ($30) For more information, please contact Dominiquebremond@aol.com The French Class - www.frenchclass.com 500 Sutter Street, Ste. 310, SF, CA 94102 (415) 362-3666 info@frenchclass.com

CERCLE DU LIVRE (Book Club) AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Free for The French Class members (levels 7 and 8). Meeting once a month. Either: Morning: one Monday per month at 11:00 a.m, or: Evening: one Thursday per month at 5:30 p.m.A minimum of 3 people is necessary to hold the Book Club. Please call in advance: (415) 362-3666 to sign up and let us know if you will be attending. Veuilllez téléphoner au 415.362.3666. The French Class, 500 Sutter Street, Ste. 310, SF, CA. 94102. 415.362.3666 or info@frenchclass.com or www.frenchclass.com for details.

FRENCH CLASSES FOR ALL AGES AND LEVELS. Taught by a native French instructor, highly qualified, ith an MA in French Language Education, and experienced. CLASSES: Help with homework, AP French Language Exam, conversation, playgroup for toddler, etc. Programme spécial offert pour enfants francophones du CP à la terminale. LOCATION: East Bay Area. For more information, or to contact me, go to: http://privatefrenchtutoring.webs.com/

LE PETIT JARDIN of San Anselmo. COME AND PLAY… LATER IN THE DAY. Le Petit Jardin of San Anselmo (Lic # 214005102) is expanding its class offerings! After nearly 3 years of wonderful success offering Toddler French every morning, we are now pleased to announce the addition of afternoon immersion sessions!! Little ones can come and play, plant in our garden, sing, dance and enjoy story time and art projects ALL IN FRENCH! Class size will be kept at a 4:1 ratio, so don't delay in reserving your child's place.
WHO: Kiddies ages 18 months and older WHAT: French Immersion through contextual play and art! WHEN: Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 pm to 5:30pm WHERE: Le Petit Jardin of San Anselmo COST: $364/month (*Price includes nutritious afternoon snack and all needed course materials. As with all new enrollments, there is a one-time $50 registration fee.) Visit www.LPJkids.com for more information on Language Immersion for your child amber@LPJkids.com or tel. 415.459.3978 for details.

LA TOULZANIE. A very beautiful, historic,14th century mill in La Toulzanie (Lot,near Cahors in southwest France) is available as a very special place to offer short courses, seminars, or workshops. The price, per week (Saturday to Saturday) depends on the time of year. Nearby is a new, lovely hotel looking directly at St. Cirq Lapopie, one of France's most beautiful villages. The mill is located on (and in) the river Lot. It sleeps 5 and features the original huge hearth, circular stone staircase, and footbridge. The grand salon is a lovely room with a long, wooden table suitable for seminars. A swimming pool, 2 minutes on foot from the mill, and a rowboat and fishing gear at the mill, are included. Photos at www.latitude.org . For availability, please contact Neil Buffée at gemeaux3@wanadoo.fr.

MA PETITE ECOLE. Ma Petite École is a Family Child Care Home offering a French preschool curriculum in Santa Rosa. Emmanuelle Benefield, a native of France, directs an “école maternelle” program (petite, moyenne et grande sections) for children from the age of two through kindergarten. The friendly, supportive environment allows children to have fun learning and thrive as individuals. For details, please contact Emmanuelle at (707) 579-2669. www.ma-petite-ecole.com

eLYCEE WORKSHOPS. eLycée offers workshops for teachers of French who sign in from anywhere to work with native French teachers, using shared applications and resources, in a unique 'virtual classroom'. Easy to attend, easy to subscribe: each workshop is independent; you may build your own program and schedule. Certificate is provided at the end of the training. Meet with colleagues: bring your stories, share and take part in discussions on a new style of teaching, rich with multimedia documents, focused on participation, collaboration and interaction and restock on ideas for your classes. *Examples of workshop titles*: I can watch an interview and get everything!- Mais de quoi tu causes ? (K’eske tu dis ??) - Spend you class at the Louvre - Work with dictionaries - French movies Fairy tails - , la BD - OULIPO, l’écriture sous contrainte – la France et ses régions - La mode - Avoir l’eau à la bouche ! - La Fontaine et ses fables - French poetry… Rejoignez-nous ! Contact : Christine at Christine.frin@elycee.com

FRENCH LANGUAGE WITH JOY. Private lessons and group-based language instruction serving Marin & San Francisco since 1975. Taught by BARBARA ZEIDMAN, M.A. California State Licensed Community College French Instructor. 415.479.2100 for details.

TUTORING FOR MATH & SCIENCE – IN FRENCH! I graduated from La Perouse in 2007 with a Scientific Baccalaureat. I'm a Junior student in SRJC in organic chemistry, and have completed a summer internship in the Buck Institute. I give math, chemistry and physics tutoring for every level. Have 3 years of experience, good connections with students and satisfied results. Can meet at the students home or at your convenience. For more information, please feel free to contact me at awad.pierre@gmail.com or tel 415 408 1041.

FRENCH WINE CLASSES. The French Wine Society is offering French wine classes in San Francisco. Each class will be an in-depth lecture of a particular region including a tasting of six carefully selected fine wines to illustrate the regions character. These classes should not be missed. They represent a unique opportunity to increase your knowledge and enjoyment of French wine. Eric Lecours, Regional Director of the French Wine Society Bay Area, will be instructing the classes. He is a Certified Wine Educator and holds a Diploma in Wine & Spirits from the WSET. He is also one of only 20 Americans to be certified by the region of Bordeaux as an official instructor, having been sponsored by the Bordeaux Wine Council to attend a weeklong educational program in Bordeaux last year. He continues his studies and is working toward his Masters of Wine, the most respected qualification in the Wine Industry. For more information and registration: http://www.frenchwinesociety.org

COOKING CLASSES IN FRANCE OFFERED BY FORMER BAY AREA RESIDENT Philippe Gion. http://www.ArtandCookingClassesinFrance.com Philippe Gion was a resident of San Francisco from 1986 to 2001, then time shared between the US and Provence. Owner & chef of the restaurant "Café Landais" (1986-1990) then, manager of the restaurant of the "Alliance Fançaise,” he was also Executive Chef at Stanford University ("East House Residency", 1997- 2000). He was a member of the Board of Director at the "Lycée Français Lapérouse" (1988-1991) and creator of the first French Ciné-Club in San Francisco ("Alliance Française Ciné-Club" with the partnership of the Lycée Français). In 1996, Philippe Gion founded "Art and Cooking Classes in France" dedicated to bringing to our Anglo-Saxons friends and gourmets the best of the joie de vivre in France and, most of all, an attractive approach of the traditional French gastronomy in Provence.

FRENCH AT CASTRO VALLEY ADULT SCHOOL. Castro Valley Adult School is offering Beginning and Intermediate French on Monday evenings. Beginners 6:30 pm-8:30 pm; Intermediates 5:30 pm-7:30 pm. Come and practice French in a low-key, fun atmosphere. Helpful for travelers looking for survival French. Heavy emphasis on cultural topics. The intermediate class offers good practice for those with some experience in French. Additional out-of-class activities such as dinner outings, wine tastings, picnics, etc. will also be offered. Reasonable course fees. Call Castro Valley Adult School for more details: 510.886.1000.

PARIS VERSION A LA FRANCAISE. Week-long French Culture and Language Seminar in Paris, various dates available. Enjoy speaking French in unknown and new Parisian surroundings : French classes in the morning, cultural and gourmet workshops or strolls through the real Paris in the afternoon. Paris Version à la Française ; http://www.parisvf.com for more details.

FRENCH CLASSES FOR LITTLE ONES IN SAN FRANCISCO. Contact: Jean et Marie store & Maisonette Playroom : Coordonnées: 510.759.1224 - ingrid@maisonettesf.com. Jean et Marie is proud to announce to offer its French immersion program for kids in its playroom, Maisonette. Language study is best started when very young, and that's why we decided to offer this opportunity to little ones as young as 2. Activities for each hour-and-a-half class include games, singing and dancing, puppets, drawing, and storytelling, all in French. For more information, come by the store, at 100 Clement Street, see: www.maisonettesf.com or call 510.759.1224.

THE INTERNATIONAL FRENCH CLUB. Going to France soon or you want to speak French like a French person? Join the International French Club. Savoir faire. Besides text and exercise books, all classes include the use of material that will expose you to the wide variety of the French-speaking world; among others, French news, French movies, novels, songs and cartoons. You will also be invited to participate in team work, games and role-plays that will express what you have learned. Free evaluation. Before signing up for a class, we will schedule a meeting to evaluate your writing and oral level, and to listen to your objectives in order to place you in the appropriate class and level. Contact Nathalie today at: 415.756.2531 info@ifrenchclub.com Beginner Classes :: Intermediate Classes :: Advanced Classes

FRENCH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE. Learn French at your own pace. French for children, adults and corporate in private or small classes. French Language Institut offers flexibility, fun, customized programs, library, newest educative material, CNED, craft sessions, trip to France and much more! Visit us @ http://www.FL-Institut.com or write to frenchteachers@siliconfrench.com.

LANGUAGES INSTITUTE INC. Languages Institute Inc. is comprised of a team of 8 experienced teachers. All our teachers are native French speakers, passionate about the language and earned a Bachelor or Master's degree. They have much experience to make your learning fun, pleasant and efficient! 1100 East Hamilton Avenue, #3, Campbell, CA. 408.377.1113 or 408.833.9620 or Info@Frenchin.Org or http://www.frenchin.org

COMING SOON(ER) OR LATER!

November 1, 2011. GUSTAVE COURBET: A REBEL ON THE ROAD TO IMPRESSIONISM. Legion of Honor, SF. 2:15pm. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

November 1, 2011. SWISSNEX SAN FRANCISCO presents THE ART OF ROBOTS. Have you ever seen a blind, juggling robot? After the evening's panel discussion between scientists, artists, and a science fiction specialist, you'll be able to answer yes. The Robots Among Us series is in part a project of the U.S.-wide program ThinkSwiss-Brainstorm the Future. As a leading country in science, research, and technology, Switzerland is working with its American counterparts to address key global topics such as sustainability to better understand trends and arrive at solutions. http://swissnexsanfrancisco.org//

November 1 & 2, 2011. A NOTRE DAME / PARIS PREVIEW. November 1: Fireside Chat with George Hammond,
A Notre Dame/Paris Preview.
7 pm,
Orinda Library, Orinda
. Free.
Lecture and Reception
George Hammond and Robert Scott (Stanford) in conversation about scholasticism’s influence on the building of Gothic Cathedrals.
November 2, 2011
Reception 5:30 pm, Lecture 6 pm
Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
595 Market Street
Robert A. Scott, Author of The Gothic Enterprise, and George Hammond.
Scholasticism and the Design of the Medieval Gothic Cathedral. The design of
the great Gothic Cathedrals of Medieval Europe is characterized by their
geometric regularity. The strict adherence to geometry in the design and
building of these great churches derives from Scholasticism, a strain of
theology that swept Western Christianity during the middle ages. George
Hammond will explain the origins of Scholasticism in Aristotelian philosophy
and identify its fundamental precepts. Robert Scott will explain how these
ideas were combined with theological notions about light to produce the
so-called Gothic look.
RSVP: commonwealthclub.org
Co-Sponsored by the Humanities Member-Led Forum
Commonwealth Club charges a fee of $8 for members and $20 for non-members.
http://www.humanitieswest.org for details.

November 2, 2011. CANADIAN PIANIST MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN performs his own keyboard ETUDES and more at Herbst Theatre. San Francisco Performances, Herbst Theatre, 415.392.2545 or www.sfperformances.org for details.

November 2, 2011. HOLIDAY CHAMPAGNES! THE FRENCH CELLAR presents WINE APPRECIATION CLASSES 2011. Regional Wines and Objects from France. 32 East Main St., Los Gatos, CA. 408.354.0993 or www.thefrenchcellar.com or jay@thefrenchcellar.com for details. Classes will be held on Wednesday evenings at 7 PM for approximately 2 hours and are limited to 16 participants. The cost of classes including 8 wines or Champagnes for tasting is $60 per person, except for Deluxe and Champagne classes, which are $90 per person. A selection of French cheeses will be served buffet-style for your enjoyment and to relate the wine to food during our tasting. Reservations should be booked in advance with a credit card and cancellations must be made within 24 hours of each class for a refund. We look forward to you joining us in tasting our great wine finds and wine values from France!

November 4-5, 2011. NOTRE-DAME: THE SOUL OF MEDIEVAL PARIS. Humanities West, Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. Season subscribers and donors priority period ends July 31.You can subscribe to the entire season through October, but the best seats are available right now. Tickets are on sale now. www.humanitieswest.org for details. Built on the site of a Roman basilica and restored over a dozen centuries, Notre Dame long reigned in splendor as the cultural, intellectual, religious, and economic center of Paris, the most powerful city in northern Europe during the Middle Ages. The cathedral's powerful towers, grand gargoyles, flying buttresses and soaring interior represent amazing achievements in medieval Gothic architecture. Its magnificent stained glass, sumptuous art, and glorious music have inspired awe and creative expression throughout the ages. Schedule: Friday, November 4, 2011, 7:30 to 10:00 pm. Notre-Dame of Paris and Manifest Destiny. Stephen Murray (Medieval Art, Columbia University). The great cathedral dominates the urban skyline, overawing us with its boat-like silhouette, powerful towers, menacing gargoyles and velvety-dark interior spaces pierced by shafts of brilliantly colored light from high windows. For us, Notre-Dame of Paris appears to represent the certainty of France becoming France, with Paris as its capital. However, when this great church was begun the Capetian kings of France were struggling for control over a city that was not yet capital of a France that was not yet France, while their rivals, the Plantagenets, controlled a mighty empire extending from Scotland to the Pyrenees. Can we return to the uncertainties of the mid-twelfth century and the start of work on a great church that was quite different from anything ever seen before and quite different from the Notre-Dame we know? Are there surprises to be found in this, the best-loved and most visited of all the great cathedrals? And how is it that Gothic, born in such precarious circumstances, can create such a powerful illusion of manifest destiny? Performance: The Cathedral and the Lady. Clerestory: Jesse Antin, Kevin Baum, John Bischoff, Dan Cromeenes, Chris Fritzsche, Tom Hart, Clifton Massey, Jim Monios, Justin Montigne. Introduced by Clifford (Kip) Cranna (Director of Music Administration, SF Opera).
Saturday, November 5, 2011, 10:00 am to noon and 1:30 to 4:00 pm. The Gothic Enterprise: Cathedral Building in Europe, 1137-1550.
Robert A. Scott (Emeritus, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford).
Notre Dame de Paris is one of Europe's greatest cathedrals, and we are awestruck and humbled by its magnificence. But it is equally astonishing to realize that hundreds of other cathedrals and great churches were being built during the same period all over Europe, together comprising one of the architectural and social achievements of Western culture. Gothic Cathedrals invite us to think about what inspired the audacity to build them. Why would a society that was so impoverished want to invest so much capital and effort in buildings that were physically stupendous, yet produced nothing tangible? What conception of the divine lay behind their creation? What were they for? And how did religious and secular leaders use cathedrals for their own social status and political advancement? In this lecture Scott explores the social, cultural, religious, ideological and political contexts in which Notre Dame and other cathedrals of Europe were conceived and built. Notre Dame and the Emergence of the Medieval Retributive Cosmos.
Hester Gelber (Religious Studies, Stanford).
During the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, just when the Bishops of Paris were planning and erecting the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the concept of retributive justice, rewarding the virtuous and punishing the wicked, began to dominate the western European imagination. Christ and Mary as the dispensers of justice and mercy ruled over a spatialized terrain in which their mythologized interaction in the salvation and punishment of souls set the model for the mythologized interactions of kings and queens in the earthly retributive sphere. In this retributive cosmology, justice and mercy, mediated through obedience, were the dominant virtues, virtues prominently in evidence in Gothic cathedral façades. Both bishops and kings had a vested interest in the imagery of justice and mercy, and the sculpture of Notre Dame is a nearly perfect evocation of the emergent retributive system. Lunch Break. Performance and Lecture.
Apocalypse and Debauchery: Anti-clericalism in Medieval French Music and Literature. Multi-instrumentalist and Singer Tim Rayborn (Berkeley) explores the rise of secular culture in mid-thirteenth-century Paris and the conflicts with religious organizations that followed from it. He focuses on the arguments between the secular masters and the mendicant orders at the University of Paris, and how this debate found its way into the secular music and poetry of the time. He will present examples of this poetry and music, performed with medieval instruments, and show how anti-clericalism became an important part of medieval French artistic culture, despite the inherent dangers of angering Church authorities. Victor Hugo and Notre-Dame de Paris.
Suzanne Guerlac (French, UC Berkeley). In French the title of Hugo's celebrated and very popular novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is simply Notre Dame de Paris, the name of the Cathedral that still sits in the heart of Paris. What happens in this act of translation? How is it that in passing from one language to another we seem to slide from the sublime, the sacred monument, to the grotesque character of Quasimodo, whose body is hideously deformed and whose spirit is quickly broken. Which one lies at the heart of the novel? In fact, they both do, one inside the other. What is the meaning of this identification between the two? Panel Discussion with all Presenters and written questions from the Audience. www.humanitieswest.org for details.

November 6, 2011. CAROLYN TEWARI performs works by Classical Masters, including DEBUSSY. Carolyn Tewari performs a solo piano recital of classical works from four eras, with music by Handel, Beethoven, Chopin, Carreño, Debussy, Khachaturian and Granados.
Sunday, Nov. 6, 3pm, $12-$25. http://sebarts.org/index.php/performing-arts/casual-concerts/

November 6-December 4, 2011. CARMEN by GEORGES BIZET; Libretto by HENRI MEILHAC & LUDOVIC HALEVY. Thrilling but dangerous, the captivating, capricious Carmen is one of the most vivid characters in all of opera, and Kate Aldrich embodies her as well as any performer today. The sultry mezzo-soprano is “an impressive Carmen…who brought her alluring physique and rich, healthy voice to this touchstone role” (The New York Times). The classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production features tenor Thiago Arancam, fresh from his success in San Francisco Opera's Cyrano de Bergerac (2010), as Don José, the man who unwisely falls under Carmen's spell. Paulo Szot, a Tony Award winner for South Pacific adored for his "sultry bedroom eyes and...rich, commanding baritone" (The New York Times) promises to be a breathtaking bullfighter, with Adler Fellow soprano Sara Gartland as Micaëla.
Sung in French with English supertitles
Approximate running time: 3 hours, 20 minutes including two intermissions. www.sfopera.com for details.

November 9-12, 2011. STANFORD VISITING ARTIST GEORGES LAVAUDANT & PROF. JEAN-MARIE APOSTOLIDES direct OUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder. Stanford Drama, in collaboration with the world-renowned French director Georges Lavaudant, present the Pulitzer Prize-winning American favorite that Edward Albee describes as “…the greatest American play ever written.” Written and set in the late 1930s when milkmen still came door-to-door each morning, Our Town nonetheless confronts the more timeless human traditions— love, marriage, birth, and death—and asks the questions at the core of human experience: how might we live life with both significance and routine? What makes life significant? Pigott Theater, Memorial Auditorium – Stanford. http://www.stanford.edu for details.

November 10, 2011. JACQUES PEPIN presents ESSENTIAL PEPIN: MORE THAN 700 ALL-TIME FAVORITES FROM MY LIFE IN FOOD. Jacques Pepin, one of America's most distinguished chefs, is back for a memorable Cooks with Books dinner at one of his favorite places, Left Bank in Larkspur. Essential Pepin includes over 700 recipes from Pepin's long career in food. Pepin has hosted several television cooking shows and written 26 cookbooks. We are honored to have this legendary chef back as part of our dining series. 6:30 pm, $145 per person. Left Bank Restaurant, 507 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur, CA 94939Note: Book Passage Cooks with Books events are held at outstanding Bay Area restaurants. The meal is prepared under the supervision of the author/chef, who speaks to the group and visits with the guests throughout the meal. Coffee and conversation usually end about two hours later. These are happy, convivial, fun-filled events for any lover of fine food and wine. Tickets are purchased in advance at Book Passage or at www.bookpassage.com. The price includes the meal, wine, tax, tip, & a signed copy of the author's book. Sign up online, or call (415) 927-0960, ext. 1 to register by phone. www.bookpassage.com for details.

November 11 & 13, 2011. SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE presents THE TREE. The exquisite Charlotte Gainsbourg stars in French filmmaker Julie Bertuccelli’s achingly beautiful follow-up to her sleeper hit SINCE OTAR LEFT, THE TREE is a mystical drama of loss and rebirth in the Australian countryside. Not since classic 1970s works PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and WALKABOUT has the harshly gorgeous outback landscape been such a lyrical yet foreboding metaphor for grief and coming of age. Blindsided with anguish after her husband’s sudden death,Dawn (Gainsbourg)—along with her four young children—struggles to make sense of life without him. Eight-yearold Simone (unforgettable newcomer Morgana Davies) becomes convinced that herfather is whispering to her through the leaves of the gargantuan fig tree that towers over their house.The family is initially comforted by its presence, but then the tree’s enormous roots slowly begin to encroach on the structure and threaten their fragile existence. (2010, 100 min.) Friday November 11 at 7:00 and Sunday, November 13 at 4:00SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE Warren Auditorium/Ives HallSonoma State University, Rohnert Park (707) 664-2606 www.sonoma.edu/sfi$6.00 general admission $5.00 non-SSU students w/I.D., senior citizens and SSU faculty and staff $4.00 SFI members and children under 12 FREE for SSU students w/I.D. Discount tickets: 5 films for $24/$20.

November 12-27, 2011. OPERA SAN JOSE presents PAGLIACCI and LA VOIX HUMAINE. Details to follow. 408.437.4450 or www.operasj.org for details.

November 13, 2011. DORADO SCHMITT AND THE DJANGO ALL-STARS perform in the 29th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival. Herbst Theatre, 7pm. www.sfjazz.org or 866.920.5299 for details.

November 16, 2011. PARIS PAR HASARD, THE SAN FRANCISCO READING. Just arrived from Paris Terrance will regale us with new tales of his Paris adventures, offer dining and travel tips and read from his acclaimed memoir: “If you ever wondered how Terrance Gelenter came to earn the title ‘Mister Paris’, this
book will tell you. A grande bouffe of gossip, anecdote and revelation. Enjoy!”- John Baxter, We’ll Always Have Paris “Fans and friends of Terrance will not be surprised (or maybe they will) at this breezy and charming memoir, and those who don’t know him will enjoy making a new friend.” – Diane Johnson, Le Divorce Also available for purchase will be his just released CD: The Paris Concert featuring many selections from The Tony Bennett Songbook. http://paris-expat.com/events/paris-par-hasard-the-san-francisco-reading/

November 17-19, 2011. LEFT BANK CELEBRATES BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU. The Bay Area Left Bank Brasseries in Larkspur, San Jose and Menlo Park will be celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau, the “first wine” of the harvest season, beginning on Thursday, November 17 and continuing through Saturday, November 19. All Left Bank locations will feature Drouhin Beaujolais Nouveau ($36.00 per bottle, $9.00 per glass, $22.50 per half carafe), along with a special $40.00 three-course prix fixe dinner menu plus the regular a la carte dinner offerings, served from 5:30 pm until closing.Beaujolais Nouveau is a traditional French holiday that celebrates the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau wine. Made from the Gamay grape, this wine is similar to a light bodied Pinot Noir and has fresh, youthful, and fruity flavors that pair perfectly with autumn dishes. By law, it is celebrated on the third Thursday of November every year. Locations: Left Bank Brasserie Larkspur 507 Magnolia Avenue Larkspur, CA 94939 (415) 927-3331; Left Bank Brasserie Santana Row 377 Santana Row, Suite 1100 San Jose, California 95128 (408) 984-3500; Left Bank Brasserie Menlo Park 635 Santa Cruz Avenue Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 473-6543. www.LeftBank.com for details.

November 18, 2011. THE FRENCH-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE presents LA SOIREE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Meet the French Art de Vivre Let's celebrate the 30th annual French party in San Francisco and all aspects of the French community (business, culture, history) throughout the Bay Area ! A fine tasting of French products. Come enjoy a great range of wines, champagnes and food for gourmets. This annual rendez-vous gathers all the amateurs of French culture and celebrates the French Art de Vivre ! It is an opportunity for French ventures to promote and showcase their expertise. A unique sponsorship and promotional opportunity for Wine and Food Merchants! The 30th Annual "La Soirée" is a great opportunity to showcase and promote your products and company. 1,000 guests, including FACC chamber members, Bay Area Francophiles and other participating businesses. You will have access to a large variety of French Wine and Gourmet food from importers, restaurants and manufacturers. In addition to the prime attraction -wine and food tasting- attendees are entertained with performances, a silent auction, a raffle and dancing. a Millesime Lounge to interact directly with consumers of high-end wines and showcase your products in a prestigious and sparkling atmosphere. If you are interested in becoming a sponsors or getting more information don't hesitate to contact us www.faccsf.com 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm Metreon City View – San Francisco
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Opening November 23, 2011. HUGO (dir. Martin Scorsese), with the voices of Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Christopher Lee. Story of an orphan who makes his home behind a clock in a Paris train station. See local listings for details.

November 27-December 4, 2011. CARMEN FOR FAMILIES. By GEORGES BIZET, with libretto by HENRI MEILHAC & LUDOVIC HALEVY. The perfect introduction to opera, Carmen for Families is a two and a half hour version of this season's exciting production, telling the classic story of love, jealousy, betrayal and death with character types recognizable by audiences of all ages. Opera newcomers will thrill to the captivating music of this beloved work, featuring the alluring gypsy girl Carmen, the Spanish soldier who loves her and her brave bullfighter who wins her heart.
This opera is recommended for ages 10 and up due to the mature nature of the characters and story of Carmen.
Sung in English with English supertitles
Approximate running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes. www.sfopera.com for details.

November 28, 2011. PISSARO’S PEOPLE. Join us for a fascinating lecture on the Legion of Honor’s fall exhibition of the work of CAMILLE PISSARRO. RITA DUNLAY of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco will discuss the artist’s notable genre scenes set in the fields and marketplaces of rural France. Mill Valley Library, 375 Throckmorton, Mill Valley. 415.389.4292 x203 for details.

December 18, 2011. DOCENT LECTURE: THE ART AND SPIRIT OF THE CRECHE. Legion of Honor, 1pm.

December 21, 2011. AVE (ARTISTS’ VOCAL ENSEMBLE) performs IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, including works by JOSQUIN and others. In the magnificent setting of St. Ignatius Church (where AVE enjoys Artist-in-Residence status), bedecked with dozens of evergreen trees, we celebrate the seaon (and the longest night of the year) with a concert of heart-felt music. Instrumentalists, singers, and poetry crown the year celebrating the Virgin Mary’s Magnificat. www.artistsvocal.com

2012. DO IT LIVE PRODUCTIONS stages EUGENE IONESCO’S THE CHAIRS. Details to follow.

January 19, 2012. SWISSNEX SAN FRANCISCO presents MY ROBOT IS SMARTER THAN YOURS. Hod Lipson of Cornell University asks if machines can figure out analytical laws automatically, and Rolf Pfeifer of the University of Zurich ponders artificial intelligence (AI) and bio-inspired robotics. The Robots Among Us series is in part a project of the U.S.-wide program ThinkSwiss-Brainstorm the Future. As a leading country in science, research, and technology, Switzerland is working with its American counterparts to address key global topics such as sustainability to better understand trends and arrive at solutions.http://swissnexsanfrancisco.org//

January 21, 22, 27 & 29, 2012. CLERESTORY performs RESOLUTIONS, with music by JOSQUIN and more… As we contemplate the New Year, ageless themes of life, death, love, and magic echo across the ages. The ten men of Clerestory greet 2012 with a kaleidoscope of madrigals, elegies and more by composers as diverse as Josquin, Vaughan Williams and Steven Sametz. OAKLAND, Saturday, January 21, 8:00pm
Chapel of the Chimes; PALO ALTO, Sunday, January 22, 4:00pm, First Lutheran Church; BELVEDERE-TIBURON, Friday, January 27, 8:00pm
Community Congregational Church; SAN FRANCISCO, Sunday, January 29, 4:00pm,
Holy Innocents Episcopal Church. http://clerestory.org/concerts.php

February 10-12, 2011. HARMONIA FELICE performs LE VIRTUOSE SUBLIME: MUSIC OF THE FRENCH BAROQUE. Sublime, spiritual, and sensual music of 18th-century France for various combinations of instruments, including violin, gamba, cello and harpsichord. The concert will include works by ELIZABETH CLAUDE JACQUET DE LA GUERRE, MARIN MARAIS, JEAN-BAPTISTE BARRIEREA and FRANÇOIS COUPERIN. San Francisco Early Music Society: Friday, 8pm, First Lutheran Church, 600 Homer at Webster, Palo Alto; Saturday, 7:30pm at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College at Garber, Berkeley; Sunday, 4pm, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell at Gough, San Francisco. www.sfems.org for details.

February 10-March 25, 2012. A DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF. Written by MOLIERE, adapted by Christoper Bayes and Steven Epp. Molière’s classic comedy comes to uproarious new life in a clever and contemporary adaptation from one of Berkeley Rep’s favorite artists. Steven Epp delighted audiences as Figaro and The Miser—now he’s back with A Doctor in Spite of Himself. The traditional story of a girl feigning illness to avoid an unwanted wedding erupts into hilarity when Epp decides to play doctor. In a pitch-perfect production punctuated with live music, this ridiculous physician proves that love and laughter remain life’s best medicine. A co-production with Yale Repertory Theatre. Berkeley Rep, Roda Theatre, http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1112/index.asp for details.

March 8-18, 2012. EMMANUEL AX performs in AMERICAN MAVERICKS. www.sfsymphony.org for details.

March 23-April 15, 2012. CINNABAR THEATER presents MOZART’s DON GIOVANNI, based on MOLIERE. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Libretto by Lorenzo DaPonte. Widely regarded as one of the greatest operas ever composed, Mozart’s opera is a brilliant combination of stark human tragedy and touching comedy, set to music of limitless genius. The Don walks on a moral knife-edge. Charismatic and sexy, but so dangerous and remorseless as to be the greatest cad in history. But his deeds may be catching up with him... Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, CA 94952, Ofc: 707-763-8920 Fax: 707-763-8929 http://www.cinnabartheater.org/

Opening March 24, 2012. THE FASHION WORLD OF JEAN PAUL GAULTIER: FROM THE SIDEWALK TO THE CATWALK. The first major exhibition dedicated to this designer, the fashion world’s “enfant terrible.” De Young Museum, Herbst Exhibition Galleries, Golden Gate Park, SF. 415.750.3600 or www.famsf.org for details.

March 31, 2012. BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA performs in VOICES OF LIGHT, which merges Carl Dreyer’s 1928 silent masterpiece THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC with a live performance of Richard Einhorn’s haunting and profound score. An acclaimed evening of music-theater. 8pm. Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall. 510.642.9988 or http://calperformances.org for details.

April 13-15, 2012. CLERESTORY performs HARMONY AND IVORY, including works by MASSENET and more. Join the men of Clerestory for their first keyboard collaboration, as they sing Romantic masterworks by Wolf and Massenet, humorous stylings made popular by the Comedian Harmonists, American spirituals and more, accompanied by a special guest pianist. Locations in the North Bay, Peninsula, East Bay & San Francisco, TBD. http://clerestory.org/concerts.php

April 13, 14 & 15, 2012. THE LOST MODE performs THAT WHICH COLORS THE MIND: MUSICAL COLORS THROUGH TIME AND SPACE. Spanning centuries of history and great geographic regions, this hauntingly beautiful concert explores the modes that are the foundation of Western music. It will delve into the soul of different modes as expressed in medieval plainsong and early polyphony, traditional Balkan, Celtic and other European melodies, and the music of neighboring Mediterranean lands, including Turkish maquam as well as Sephardic and North African song, all surviving clues pointing to the lost sound world from which our own great traditions developed. Friday in Palo Alto; Saturday in Berkeley; Sunday in San Francisco. See website for details: http://www.sfems.org/

April 25-May 13, 2012. IN PARIS. Berkeley Rep invites you to a love story that could only unfold In Paris. Legendary performer Mikhail Baryshnikov takes the stage with Anna Sinyakina and a talented ensemble assembled by visionary director Dmitry Krymov. Based on a story by Nobel Prize– winner Ivan Bunin, In Paris is a dazzling new play set in the 1930s, which mixes movement with a romantic story and spectacular design. This rare international collaboration—told in French and Russian with English supertitles—unites renowned artists born in Russia for a vivid visual experience. Visit the city of light and love with Berkeley Rep, Baryshnikov, and the Dmitry Krymov Laboratory.Adapted from the short story by ivan Bunin Composition and direction by dmitry Krymov A production of Baryshnikov Arts Center, dmitry Krymov laboratory, and russian Century Foundation in association with Korjaamo Theater, Helsinki roda Theatre · April 25–may 13, 2012. To get first dibs on tickets to this special event, you must provide your email address when you order your subscription!http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1112/index.asp for details.

April 29, 2012. SANDRINE PIAU, soprano, performs with SUSAN MANOFF, piano, in Piau’s Cal Performances début. Piau was crowned Opera Singer of the Year in 2009 by the French music industry, and in 2010, her album Between Heaven and Earth won the prestigious MIDEM Classical Album of the Year award. Featuring music by FAURE, CHAUSSON, RAVEL, POULENC and more. Cal Performances, Hertz Hall. 510.642.9988 or http://calperformances.org for details.

May 24-June 17, 2012. GOD OF CARNAGE, by YASMINA REZA, translated by Christopher Hampton, at MARIN THEATRE COMPANY. The hysterical hit Broadway comedy is finally coming to the North Bay! You’ve never laughed so hard until you’ve seen this action-packed, knockout farce, which won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play and 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Following a playground fight between their 11-year-old sons, the Raleighs agree to meet the Novaks to discuss the situation civilly. However, the veneer of middle-class manners soon falls away as the couples regress to childish accusations, bullying and bickering. http://www.marintheatre.org/satellitepages/11-12-season.php for details.